5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Joining Another Social Platform

Ten years ago, if your business wanted to have a presence on social media, there weren’t many places to go.

What a difference one decade can make. Facebook now boasts the world’s largest user base and an incredibly sophisticated ads platform. Instagram passed 600 million users. Snapchat grew to attract 50 million daily active users in five years. Plus, there’s Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn, each of which brings unique capabilities to the table.

It’s nice to have options, but much like a restaurant where everything looks amazing, too many can be overwhelming.

Before your organization joins another social channel, here are five key considerations:

1. Do we have enough resources to manage another platform?

Social media management is a lot of work. Even though publishing can be free, social still takes a significant investment of time and effort. Especially when starting a new account from scratch.

So, before you jump headlong onto another platform, ask yourself: do we have the resources to do this and do it well? If there’s any doubt as to the answer, it might be better to focus your efforts on existing channels or think about bringing in an agency to help.

2. Can we get more out of our existing social channels?

If any business is looking to add a social platform, there should be a legitimate reason for doing so. Generating engagement on Facebook without any paid support is difficult, and isn’t getting any easier. That has a lot of businesses looking towards Instagram.

Before jumping on Instagram, it’s worth asking: can we promote some of our Facebook posts with a modest budget each month? Even if it’s just $25 behind six posts, that will drive some great engagement without the added work of another channel, which could be a better route.

3. What’s our plan for content?

Publishing consistently is integral to being successful on social, and often times, the ease of jumping from one platform to another depends on how effectively you can re-purpose content. If you’re already on Facebook, for instance, you can use similar copy and the same images on Pinterest.

It isn’t always so simple, however. Going from Pinterest to Twitter is a lot trickier, because Twitter revolves much more around conversation. When looking to add another social platform, be mindful of how well the new one will fit into your existing content production and strategic approach.

4. Do we have the right process to support it?

Process is a huge part of being on social media. Imagery, copy and strategy all typically involve various work flows and levels of approval, and a new social channel wouldn’t be any different.

So, always consider how a new platform will fit into your processes. If each graphic needs to adhere to strict brand guidelines and be approved by three layers of creative, Snapchat is going to be tough, because the platform is designed to be quick, goofy and ephemeral.

5. How will this help our business?

The answer(s) to this question should guide social strategy for every organization. There are all kinds of business objectives that social can help achieve, from app downloads to website conversions to video views to brand awareness and much more.

Looking for consumer engagement? Instagram can do that very efficiently. Want to drive traffic to your website? Facebook and Pinterest are the places to go. To be set up for success on social, you have to know what you want to accomplish. And if thinking about all that sounds intimidating, remember, there are people who can help.

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